A quick search on ebay found a couple for $180 with $25 for shipping. I wonder if the supplier has stopped making them. They were available at both Walmart and Amazon last year. I paid half that for mine. Bummer. =(

so how do i rig up tarps and poles with rope or paracord with out it going bye bye at 50 mph, i am still new to this have bin looking at different shade setups like the kelty and rei, so far the shade thing has had me looking at lots of online posting and sporting/surplus stores all may work but nothing looks 100% safe but i know its playa and thats part of the fun safety 3rd

Looks like this website just received a new shipment of this structure for a pretty good price.
I know the thread is a bit dated, but just wanted to share with everyone in case you were still looking. For a while, I thought this piece had been discontinued. Hope it helps!

thesandman wrote:so how do i rig up tarps and poles with rope or paracord with out it going bye bye at 50 mph, i am still new to this have bin looking at different shade setups like the kelty and rei, so far the shade thing has had me looking at lots of online posting and sporting/surplus stores all may work but nothing looks 100% safe but i know its playa and thats part of the fun safety 3rd :lol:

Ok, it is not the steady wind that will cause problems, but the gusts. If you were to use rope (ratchet straps or whatever) on the lee side of the wind and then use rope with heavy duty bungee straps on the windward side your structure will stay where you put it. Don't forget to use at least 1-1.5 ft rebar on every line. The gusts will cause some flaring of the tarps, but since there is give, you will be ok (if you do not have some give on the ropes the tarps might get torn apart from the gusts). I used this method last year and had no issues. But that was MY experience, last year (2009). If the winds are like it was in 07 your experience could be different. It might help to shelter the whole deal with a vehicle if possible.

Prospero's Ghost wrote:Looks like this website just received a new shipment of this structure for a pretty good price.I know the thread is a bit dated, but just wanted to share with everyone in case you were still looking. For a while, I thought this piece had been discontinued. Hope it helps!

I actually just bought a North Pole tent from this site and itâ€™s on my way to my house at the moment. All together, it cost $135. The shipping wasnâ€™t too bad considering theyâ€™re sending it across the US. Iâ€™m a little nervous because it seems a little odd that this is the ONLY place on the internets that has any NPTs. Iâ€™ll update this forum once I get it and let you all know if it arrived ok. I have visions of opening the box and pulling out a tiny origami version of the tent!

Iâ€™m also bringing 550 cord, gorilla tape, 18in stakes and if space permits, a tarp just in case the wind decides to shred itâ€¦

Oh, in case anyone orders it from HOBO, just a warning: It took them about a week to charge my credit card.

We paid $141 for ours back in May, the only thing missing was one of the little nubby things on the center pole which is easily fixed with a bolt, the stakes that come with it are pretty cheesy, we've replaced those with the 12" kind of V shaped stakes, so far so good!

read through the old posts, thanks Risky. The idea of shock forces caught my eye, the gusting jerks and yanks. I remembered a rubber line snubber on a boat, and wondered if anyone has ever tried one on a tent line. Sure a boat weighs a lot more Somebody mentioned bungees, and this sparked my interest in the old rubber snubber. Wonder if it would lessen the strain on the grommets. I googled line snubber (watch out for the electronic version) and there are many variations on this theme.

Chessna wrote:I actually just bought a North Pole tent from this site and itâ€™s on my way to my house at the moment. All together, it cost $135. The shipping wasnâ€™t too bad considering theyâ€™re sending it across the US. Iâ€™m a little nervous because it seems a little odd that this is the ONLY place on the internets that has any NPTs. Iâ€™ll update this forum once I get it and let you all know if it arrived ok. I have visions of opening the box and pulling out a tiny origami version of the tent!

Iâ€™m also bringing 550 cord, gorilla tape, 18in stakes and if space permits, a tarp just in case the wind decides to shred itâ€¦

Oh, in case anyone orders it from HOBO, just a warning: It took them about a week to charge my credit card.

Got the shade structure this weekend...So far, it looks legit. It's really heavy! I'm setting it up next weekend and sealing the seams.

So does anyone think this would hold up as well as a monkey hut to wind?The easy setup is mighty tempting. I'd be tempted to get one and use rebar and bungee balls for securing it, to see if it would last in hight wind.
It also seems like the monkey hut might add a bit of protection from the wind, at least on 2 sides. This shade is pretty much wide open to the wind.
Bud

We used this in 08 with rebar and didn't have any problems. I know that there have definitely been stronger winds on the playa in the past, but it seems that enough people over the years have successfully used this as a dependable structure...

Looked EVERYWHERE on line and followed like 80 links - all discontinued! Finally called the company. They stopped making them in 2007 because companies were not ordering them! Guess that was why Walmart blew them out last year for $88!

Managed to find one on-line for about $130. Hope it is worth all the hype!

My thoughts from last year: Nice and solid, but minimal room underneath compared to the footprint they require. They have a 30' diameter, but due to the angle of the sides, you lose almost half of that for anything but storage/laying down. Several camps in our area had these, including ours. We didn't bother guying it down due to the shape, and it survived the week - and we had it on an unprotected corner (5:30 & H). Neighbors dome (admittedly a bit of a sketchy dome) collapsed in the winds; spent the next few days a piece of modern art.

The only actual damage it took was when I was taking a stake out, I pulled out a non-structural loop in the middle of one of the doors.

The last day it took a pretty heavy beating from continual gusts of wind, and the center pole was leaning slightly because it hadn't been nailed down as tight as it could have been, but otherwise it was fine.

I'd worry about the three poles that extend to support the arches over the doors. They're small, and the fabric isn't taut there. There are guy loops above each door and while we didn't guy ours down, I would advise guying it at least on the windward side, to help give it a little extra support from the wind.

The center pole is a fairly heavy duty steel pole. My only concern there would be if the wind was strong enough that it managed to push one of the three arch support poles in enough to cause the center pole to collapse. Again, guying it over the doors should help prevent that.

Elorrum wrote:I slid some 3/4" (I think... whatever fits over these poles...) pvc pipe over the three top extender poles to reinforce them. Just happened to have the pipe, and figured, what the hell.

Not a bad idea, as they're fairly lightweight poles, although I personally worry more about where they connect to the fabric, and if they can push into the center pole enough to cause it to kink. The latter would be impressive, but since the extender poles provide a direct means to transfer wind force to the midsection of the upright, I wouldn't rule it out.

Prospero's Ghost wrote:Looks like this website just received a new shipment of this structure for a pretty good price.I know the thread is a bit dated, but just wanted to share with everyone in case you were still looking. For a while, I thought this piece had been discontinued. Hope it helps!

Prospero's Ghost wrote:Looks like this website just received a new shipment of this structure for a pretty good price.I know the thread is a bit dated, but just wanted to share with everyone in case you were still looking. For a while, I thought this piece had been discontinued. Hope it helps!